Online Substance Use Counselling · Woking

Online Substance Use Counselling in Woking

Online substance use counselling for Woking, by secure video. From a base in Hove I work with people across Woking, from the town centre and Horsell to the streets around the canal, with the same BACP-registered, confidential support as an in-person session, and no journey.

Online across the UKSecure videoFree 15-min consultation
BACP registered member25+ years of experienceLived experience
Bradley Riddell, BACP-registered counsellor offering online substance use counselling for Woking, introducing his approach
ConfidentialA safe, private space
Person-centredThe therapy fits you

In and around Woking

Substance Use Counselling for Woking, at a glance

Areas covered online
All of Woking: from the town centre and Horsell to Knaphill, Goldsworth Park and Sheerwater
Known for
The canal, Horsell Common and the centre
Region
London & South East (England)
Local NHS / support route
Healthy Surrey's drugs and alcohol support
Format
Secure video, UK-wide. In-person also available on the Sussex coast.

Life in Woking

What is going on for people in Woking?

Drug use in Woking is discreet and generally functional. Something to hold a demanding week together, something else to put it down again at the end of one. It happens in houses in Goldsworth Park and Horsell, in flats near the station, in the hours after a late train. On paper very little is going on: deaths from drug misuse ran at 2.9 per 100,000 across 2022 to 2024, well below the England average of 5.8 per 100,000, and only 2.3 adults per 1,000 were in specialist drug treatment in 2020/21 against an England average of 4.5 per 1,000. Figures that low in a prosperous commuter town describe who asks for help, not who uses.

the McLaren Technology Centrethe commuter line to Waterloothe Shah Jahan Mosque community

Areas covered

Neighbourhoods in and around Woking

HorsellKnaphillGoldsworth ParkSheerwaterSt John'sMayburyOld WokingByfleetMount Hermon

Wherever you are in Woking, the work is the same, a calm, confidential space shaped around you.

The local picture

The local picture in Woking

Official figures for Woking, for context rather than as a description of you.

Reviewed June 2026.

What would we do together in substance use counselling?

Substance use counselling here is non-judgemental and one-to-one, working with the pain, fear or loneliness the substance has been managing, at a pace that protects your sense of safety.

Rather than say the same thing on every page, the substance lives on the substance use counselling page, with how sessions run and what they cost for the practical questions and how to check my registration for registration and ethics.

What do I need for an online session?

Sessions run over a secure, encrypted video link, held to the same BACP confidentiality as meeting in person. After a free fifteen-minute call, you join from any private space on a phone, tablet or laptop.

Woking is worked with entirely online, by secure video, because Bradley is in Hove. For drug use that removes the visible half of it: no building to be seen entering, no appointment to account for, nothing carried anywhere. The hour runs from your own space at a set weekly time, and a parked car serves perfectly well when the house is full. Starting with the camera off is fine, and telephone covers an unreliable line.

Book a free 15-minute call

What I help with

What does substance use counselling help with?

Drugs and substances

Confidential support for any kind of substance use.

The false self

Letting go of the protective self that no longer serves you.

Specialised attention

One-to-one sessions shaped entirely around you.

Self-discovery

Rediscovering the authentic self beneath the coping.

Anxiety and low mood

Treating what the substance has been masking.

Sustainable change

Growing into recovery rather than forcing it.

Substance Use Counselling in Woking

Why people in Woking come for substance use counselling

You are not asked to have stopped, and you are not asked to intend it. In a town like this the obstacle is rarely availability. It is the idea that somebody with a mortgage, a season ticket and a responsible job cannot also have this, and so the whole thing stays unspoken for years. With only 2.3 adults per 1,000 in treatment in 2020/21 against 4.5 nationally, a great deal is clearly being handled privately. The work starts from ordinary facts: what you use, how often, and what it delivers that nothing else currently does. That third one is where the pattern becomes intelligible. Then the cost. Prescribing and anything to do with withdrawal belongs with your GP, with Healthy Surrey's drugs and alcohol support, or with i-access, the Surrey service run in partnership with Catalyst.

A free, unhurried first step

Not sure if it is right for you? A free fifteen-minute call is a no-obligation way to talk it through.

Book a free 15-minute call

Drug, alcohol & addiction support in Woking

My online counselling sits alongside the help available locally. In Woking, free local drug and alcohol support is available through Healthy Surrey's drugs and alcohol support.

For confidential information and advice, FRANK (on 0300 123 6600) and Drinkline on 0300 123 1110 are free, and Alcoholics Anonymous and SMART Recovery run peer-support meetings you can find online.

Other local and national support verified for this area includes:

If you need urgent help now

This is not a crisis service. If anyone is in immediate danger call 999. For urgent mental health support, call NHS 111 and choose the mental health option. The Samaritans are free, day or night, on 116 123, or text SHOUT to 85258.

If you drink heavily or use drugs daily, do not stop suddenly on your own. Withdrawal can cause seizures and can be dangerous. Speak to your GP or a local drug and alcohol service first, and they can arrange a safe, medically supported withdrawal. Counselling works alongside that, not instead of it.

Woking questions

Online Substance Use Counselling in Woking: common questions

Do I need to have decided to stop before booking?

No. Undecided is a normal and workable place to begin from, and the decision usually forms as the picture becomes clearer. We look at what the substance does for you alongside what it takes, and nobody leans on the outcome. The timing stays yours throughout the work.

How much does it cost?

An hour is £80, ninety minutes £100 and two hours £120, settled appointment by appointment with nothing paid ahead. The opening 15-minute consultation is free, so working out whether this suits you costs nothing. Drug services in Surrey are free at the point of use.

Which drug service covers Woking?

i-access, the Surrey drug and alcohol care service delivered in partnership with Catalyst. Healthy Surrey's drugs and alcohol support explains how to reach it. Prescribing, testing and structured treatment happen there, and counselling with Bradley runs alongside without duplicating it.

Would any of this reach my employer?

Nothing goes to an employer as a matter of course. The work is confidential under the BACP Ethical Framework, with a short list of exceptions set out before you start, and your GP receives nothing unless you specifically request a letter. No local record exists anywhere.

I use to stay level through a demanding job. Does that make it different?

It makes the reason easy to defend, which is exactly why it can run for years. A substance propping up performance is still doing a job, and the job usually grows. The useful experiment is noticing what two weeks without it does to your sleep and your concentration.

It crept up so slowly I'm not even sure it's a problem. Can counselling still help?

Yes, and that gradual creep is exactly when talking helps most. You do not need a crisis or certainty to begin. We can look together at how the habit has grown and what it is doing for you, at a pace that never rushes you.

Can I get online substance use counselling quickly in Woking?

Generally yes. A free 15-minute consultation comes first, then a regular time, often within a week. There is no clinic to reach and no referral queue, so you can join securely from home in Sheerwater, Knaphill or the town centre, around your working week.

Is substance use counselling free on the NHS in Woking?

There are free routes: your GP can refer you, Surrey's drug and alcohol service takes self-referrals, and FRANK offers confidential national advice online or by phone. This counselling is private, at £80 for 60 minutes, £100 for 90 and £120 for 120, with a free consultation.

Online or in person around a life shaped by the Woking commute?

Online usually suits best, since a life organised around the train leaves little appetite for another journey, and sessions come to you at home. That catches gradual stress before it takes over. If you would like to meet face to face, the room is in Hove, an easy train down to the coast.

Online Substance Use Counselling in Woking, whenever you are ready

A free fifteen-minute call is the simplest place to start, no obligation, just a chance to see if we are the right fit.

Also available online across London & South East: Guildford, London. See all of London & South East.

If substance use counselling is not quite what you are looking for, addiction counselling, counselling for drinking problems and anxiety counselling may fit better in Woking.

You may also find it useful to read about once an addict, always an addict? and three ways to handle a craving.

Within reach of Sussex? substance use counselling is offered in the room in Hove, where the room is as well as online; see the full list of areas.